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SUPER BOWL LII -THE AFTERMATH OF PHILLY'S 41-33 WINOVER NEW ENGLAND PLUS THEODDS TO WIN IT ALL FOR 2018 NFL SEASON AND THE FINAL NFL POINTSPREAD STANDINGS CHART ...COLLEGE BASKETBALL NEWS & NOTES

It's always uber-interesting to discover what we all can learn following on the heels of a Super Bowl game ... and especially the one played last Sunday night when the Philadelphia Eagles rocked the 4-point favorite New England Patriots 41-33:

One thing for sure is this whole CB Malcolm Butler saga ain't going away anytime soon. If you believe the words coming out of Foxboro, then Butler's absence from the field save for one special teams play was because of a "perfect storm" of a missed curfew, some rotten practices leading into Super Bowl 52 and maybe even some marijuana smoke too - so hints some "in-the-know" folks. The bottom line is Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick sat Butler for every single defensive snap and that had deadly consequences when you consider that Philadelphia QB Nick Foles - the game's Most Valuable Player - threw for 373 yards and 3 TDs and often "picked on" the players that were playing in Butler's stead.

One other post-Super Bowl story that came to light was that Eagles' head coach Doug Pederson - who received glowing grades for his gutsy in-game calls/decisions - spent the better part of two weeks really listening to Foles in terms of what plays the quarterback felt most comfortable with for this matchup against the Pats. Okay, so everyone knew Foles and Company would feature plenty of "RPO's" - run/pass options - but the fact is Pederson spent countless hours going over what exact routes fit Foles' strengths and they hammered them home against a New England defense that truthfully played its worst game of the year.

One final "aftermath" note here coming from SB 52:

The slew of distractions that hung around the Patriots really came home to roost - from the inevitable departures of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to Indianapolis and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to Detroit, to the on-going Tom Brady/Belichick/owner Robert Kraft stuff to the Butler Saga all conspired against New England ... the Eagles were controversy-free and, as we all discovered, truly loose to play this Super Bowl game unlike the franchise's previous Super Bowl losers back in the 1980 and 2004 campaigns.

SUPER BOWL 53 ODDS TO WIN IT ALL

TEAM

ODDS

New England

5-1

Green Bay

9-1

Philadelphia

9-1

Minnesota

12-1

Pittsburgh

12-1

Atlanta

18-1

Dallas

18-1

LA Rams

18-1

New Orleans

18-1

San Francisco

20-1

Carolina

25-1

Houston

25-1

Jacksonville

28-1

Kansas City

28-1

Seattle

28-1

Denver

33-1

Indianapolis

33-1

LA Chargers

33-1

Oakland

33-1

Baltimore

40-1

Detroit

40-1

Tampa Bay

40-1

Arizona

50-1

NY Giants

50-1

Tennessee

50-1

Washington

50-1

Buffalo

66-1

Cincinnati

66-1

Miami

66-1

NY Jets

66-1

Chicago

100-1

Cleveland

100-1

Hey, remember last year the Philadelphia Eagles were priced at 36-to-1 to win it all (the New England Patriots were just 2-to-1) and so never discount a long-shot when it comes to this stuff. First reaction here is to believe the Carolina Panthers at 25-to-1 could be "live" ... stay tuned.

NFL 2017 SEASON / POST-SEASON POINTSPREAD STANDINGS

TEAM

WON

LOST

PUSH

PCT

Philadelphia

13

6

0

.684

Minnesota

11

6

1

.647

New England

12

7

0

.632

Buffalo

10

6

1

.625

San Francisco

9

6

1

.600

Carolina

10

7

0

.588

Kansas City

10

7

0

.588

Chicago

8

6

2

.571

LA Chargers

8

6

2

.571

NY Jets

8

6

2

.571

Cincinnati

9

7

0

.563

Jacksonville

10

8

0

.556

Baltimore

8

7

1

.533

Dallas

8

7

1

.533

Detroit

8

7

1

.533

LA Rams

9

8

0

.529

New Orleans

9

8

0

.529

Indianapolis

8

8

0

.500

Tennessee

8

8

2

.500

Atlanta

8

10

0

..444

Green Bay

7

9

0

.438

Houston

7

9

0

.438

NY Giants

7

9

0

..438

Washington

7

9

0

.438

Pittsburgh

7

10

0

.412

Arizona

6

9

1

.400

Seattle

6

9

1

.400

Tampa Bay

6

9

1

.400

Miami

5

9

2

.357

Oakland

5

9

2

.357

Denver

4

11

1

.267

Cleveland

4

12

0

.250

Jim Hurley's Network of Handicappers and Bloggers absolutely blasted the Las Vegas and offshore books throughout the NFL Playoffs / Super Bowl LII and so we'll give ourselves one last round of applause and move on to the hardwood -- so cash in big with NBA and College Basketball Winners starting tonight here online or at 1-800-323-4453. Keep rollin' in the profits with Jim Hurley's Network and make sure you're getting all the b-ball winners as we say farewell to another great Football Season!

COLLEGE BASKETBALL NEWS/NOTESOkay, so we're still more than a month out from Selection Sunday (see March 11th) and the likes of #9 Duke and #10 Kansas have plenty of time to wrangle their way into one of the top four seeds come the NCAA Tournament but ask us right this very moment and our numero uno seeds would be Villanova (East), Virginia (South), Purdue (Midwest) and Xavier (West) ...

What about the Cincinnati Bearcats (21-2, 10-0 American), you ask? Well, the 'Cats are in line right now for a #2 seed but playing in the lowly-regarded American Athletic Conference hurts the overall power ranking as note the likes of conference rivals Wichita State, SMU, Temple and UConn all have played below expectations (especially this rotten UConn team that's 11-12 overall) and so winning the AAC won't be as meaningful for Cincinnati as you might think ...

From the mid-major "teams to watch" from this point forward, keep an eye on Middle Tennessee State (a #22 RPI), Nevada (a #12 RPI) and Vermont (a #52 RPI) as all of the above could be first- and second-round handfuls come the NCAA Tourney. We would love to see a scrappy Nevada team that plays with high energy battle a Michigan State or Purdue in a Round II game; and Middle Tennessee (10-1 in Conference USA play) could give fits to a #3 or #4 seed such as Texas Tech or Oklahoma in the second round.

NOTE: Catch our College Hoop updates plus lots more in the next edition of Jim Sez.